Church Planting Featured Story
by Len Wiebe
Father's House is a church plant of Vancouver Vietnamese Alliance Church with a building at 31st avenue and Fraser Street in the middle of south Vancouver. Most of Father's House is comprised of Asian people born in Canada. This year we are celebrating the 100-year anniversary of when the Christian and Missionary Alliance brought the gospel to Vietnam. Our group is a testament to the true missionary spirit that went to isolated locations where the gospel was not being shared. Today the C&MA is widespread and well respected in Vietnam and there are Vietnamese congregations in nearly every major city in Canada.
In 1976 a group of 40 Vietnamese immigrants was sponsored by Tenth Avenue Alliance. Many Vietnamese, especially those in the south part of the country, suffered intense persecution after the fall of Saigon and the end of the war. The result of this was an influx of these people who often came on very crowded boats with only the clothes on their backs. This group quickly grew in number and their children grew up speaking English and experiencing Western culture. The result is the birth of English ministries that are becoming ever more prevalent in urban North America and especially multicultural cities like Vancouver.
Of course these ministries come with unique challenges and have a pioneer spirit to them as we go through a process of trial and error to see what works and what does not. Complex questions of Christianity and culture arise as we seek unity and allow for differences in culture, method and style. It is an exciting ministry to be a part of because it is such an area of growth and experimentation.
On Saturday we organized a game of softball that we hoped would bring out un-churched people from our community. We were not too sure what to expect because initially not many people responded and were willing to commit. But one of our teens invited a bunch of her friends from school over facebook and we showed up ready to play.
It was a rainy day and I thought maybe we should cancel. It certainly did not seem to bode well for the turnout. I was surprised that we had actually too many people show up and we had to sub off. We could have actually had three teams! We had about 20 from Father's House and about 20 from the community that reflected the diversity of our community. It was a great time and many initial connections were made that I pray will continue and deepen.
Father's House, like many churches, has been a series of steps forward and backward and I do not know the ultimate outcome. Our goal is to serve faithfully. I would ask for prayer that real bonds would be formed and people would be grafted in. We plan to play softball all summer and I hope it forms long term inroads into our community. Next Sunday we are headed for Jericho Beach where about ten people are going to be baptized which is very exciting. It is encouraging to know that God continues to advance His kingdom and we get to be a part of that.
